Who are the ‘Judases’ in the UNP?

Minister Malik Samarawickrama has revealed that president Maithripala Sirisena had informed him that it was a group of UNP MPs and ministers who had told that the government cannot be steered further with Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime minister.

Minister Samarawickrama has dropped this bombshell during an UNP meeting at Temple Trees this evening (13).

According to him, the president had further said the relevant decision was taken after MPs and ministers of the SLFP had also suggested to remove Mr. Wickremesinghe.

If Mr. Wickremesinghe should be held responsible for the defeat at the recent LG polls after the UNP secured over 30% of the votes, the president is even more responsible after the SLFP secured only around 15% of the votes, minister Samarawickrama had said.

Meanwhile, ministers Champika Ranawaka, Palani Digambaram, Rauff Hakeem and Mangala Samaraweera as well as MP Wijayakala have also said that the president’s recent conduct and statements made during in the last few days before the election had largely contributed towards the ruling parties’ defeat.

They have further charged that the president had also attempted to obtain political mileage by even making the Auditor General appear before a media briefing.

Responding, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe had said that he had refrained from responding to the continuous insults of the president just to safeguard the ruling coalition.

Although all UNP ministers and MPs were prepared to go to the president’s official residence immediately to find out which UNPers had said that the government cannot be steered ahead with Mr. Wickremesinghe, it was later decided only the cabinet ministers of the UNP should go, since the President’s residence cannot accommodate such a large crowd at once.

It is also learnt that the ministers had left for the president’s residence to convey the decision to establish an UNP government with Mr. Wickremesinghe as the PM.